fort monroe

Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff,
G3

Information Management Division

HQ USAREUR

Command and Control Personal Computer

(C2PC)

Observations

• Mr. Mike Aquino
•HQUSAREUR G3-IMD
•DSN 314-370-7029
•mike.aquino@us.army.mil

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• General Architecture

• General Observations

• What Users Like

• Issues/Recommendations

• Summary

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USAREUR

GENERAL COP ARCHITECTURE

•/“>-

Network Management Facilil
Mannheim

BFT-E Users

EUCOM

C2PC GW C2PC
Users

NMF

Server

C2PC AFATDS

OmniTracs

CCS

EIS

SERVER

ADOCS

ASAS-RWS MCS-L

A

C2PC GW

C2PC

Users

OmniTracs

Mercury

Heidelberg

G3-IMD

Operations

V CORPS/ 1 AD/ 1 ID

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NIPRNET

SIPRNET

General Observations

• C2PC is the primary tool used to provide digital Situational
Awareness throughout USAREUR units (HQ USAREUR, V
CORPS, 1AD, 1ID, TFF, TFE).

- C2PC is the TOC display of choice for situational awareness.

• C2PC is EASY to train/learn/support. A must for the
battlefield.

• Excerpts from the V CORPS C4ISR Integration AAR for OIF:

- The Global Command and Control System (GCCS) and
Command and Control Personal Computer C2PC, fed by
Blue Force Tracker (L-Band) and networked to receive
intelligence information and Joint data feeds, served the V
Corps well in this role during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

- In some cases V Corps and 1 MEF forces who did not have
Blue Force Tracking were able to use military and
commercial GPS devices to track themselves by interfacing
with C2PC loaded on a standard Laptop computer.

- C2PC provided superb situational awareness during OIF.

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General Observations (c o

* Although ICSF will replace C2PC as the SA tool with GCCS-J
4.x, the majority of our users will continue to use C2PC as
their situational tool since they will not have the hardware
or network connectivity to make effective use of ICSF.

* C2PC (version 6.x) will remain the situational awareness
application in GCCS-A block 4.

* Users like the capability to load their SA application on a
standard base-lined PC. No need for specialized load or
equipment.

* CENTCOM Coalition units have embraced C2PC in a big
way. It is now incorporated into the base-line clone for all
CENTRIXS Laptops. After MND SE (Brit zone) put up their
digital screens they watched Tony Blair fly around on the
Big Board. Tony Blair later came in and was provided an
overview of the application - He was impressed. The brief
was given by an Italian CPT which shows something of the
commitment to C2PC by Coalition Forces.

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What Users Like

• The Intel Office Application in conjunction with C2PC. The
ability to query the MIDB and generate a C2PC overlay of
Mosque, Hospital, Mass Grave sites, etc., has been great!

• Ease of use. Unlike many other systems, you can train a
user on the basic operations of the application in about 4
hours.

• Overlay tool

• The ability to "insert" objects into an overlay.

• Doesn't require 40 contractors to operate a Corps
network.

• C2PC can be installed and operated with minimal training
required.

• The GPS receiver capabilities. A C2PC laptop combined
with a commercial GPS unit can become an impromptu
Blue Force Tracking device.

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What Users Like (cont.)

• Mapping, Filters, and Plot options provide necessary tools
to tailor the SA picture to meet specific requirements.

• The ability to create/save/display Multiple Map views with
exclusive Map/Filter/Plot options is a great tool!

• Unit track groups (would be better if they were dynamic).

• TBMD

• The Auto Panning feature is great for tracking specific
patrols!

• The ability to load imagery as the map background. "A
picture is worth a thousand words"!

• The ability to switch map selection between quick draw
and flexible draw. Users can easily select a particular
map resolution or let the system auto-select it for them.

• The ability to print/plot maps (with or without tracks or
overlays) to scale.

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Issues/Recommendation

— i

• Problem with TacticalObjects.mdb file becoming
"corrupted". Provide a GUI/button to perform the
function of copying the sampletacticalobjects.mdb over
TacticalObjects.mdb the until this problem is resolved.

• TBMD module as part of the standard client install vice a
custom install.

• C2PC not (as it does) allow - and / in unit names. This
creates a problem when unit tracks are propagated to
the GCCS COP server. These are not acceptable
characters in the TDBM.

• Experienced inconsistencies with TBM alerts.

Sometimes late, sometimes not at all.

• Switch between NTDS and 2525A without restarting
C2PC.

• Set a Master Reference Point.

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Issues/Recommendations (c

• Support for SASO (Stability and Support Operations)
graphics.

• Implement additional 2525B graphics.

• Provide seamless overlay graphic interchange between
C2PC and other SA systems (MCS-L, ASAS-L, MCS, ADOCS,
AMDWS, etc...).

• Dynamic track group capability. Commanders would like the
ability to set track groups dynamically based on user
defined parameters (name, unit, type, etc...) similar to
search parameters with wild card options, and then be able
to display that track group in a different color, icon, etc...

• Name (Long Name) and echelon as options in the Track
Summary window.

• Provide function to readily view any applied filters, or to
"turn off" all applied plot option filters. Given the numerous
locations for setting various filters, users can "lose" track of
what filters are set.

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Issues/Recommendations (co

• OVERLAY MANAGEMENT

- Posting overlays to a web site has provided the best method
of dissemination. DHCP, the volume of users, and the size of
overlays makes C2PC Network hard to use. E-mail has also
proven to be an ineffective means of overlay dissemination.

The base overlay for OIF, without imbedded objects, was
over 500K.

- Post baseline overlays to the gateway so that whenever a
user connects to the gateway they would receive that
overlay graphic. Baseline graphics changed daily and,
although the use of TACWEB was easy, users could not keep
up with the changes. The C2PC Network works well in a
small environment, but not on something the size of what
was done during OIF. There needs to be a pull solution vs. a
push solution. Pushing graphics to users who have DHCP
assigned IP addresses does not work, especially if they did
not have their boxes turned on or weren't logged in.

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Issues/Recommendations (co

• 5. 9. 0.3 P4 runs great on Win2k but we saw problems on
XP. Every problem was eventually traced to the local
site, and their implementation of Domain Policy but any
testing results would be appreciated. (Understand that
version 6.x will work on XP).

• Locally change an individual track (icon). Example, Gen
X wants to see his icon as an American flag.

• Problem with C2PC on Win2K systems with "blinking"
icons when two or more maps are open and trackplot is
active.

• Bulk import data from a external source to create
overlay objects. Similar to the polyline import
capability, but be able to designate each object as a
particular entity (such as an obstacle).

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Summary

• C2PC provided superb situational awareness during OIF.

• C2PC is a great Situational Awareness Tool. It's ease of
installation and use, along with a nominal technical
support requirement, have made it the USAREUR
Situational Awareness tool of choice.

• The use of C2PC across the Joint environment has
allowed for Joint Situational Awareness to a level that
has not previously existed.

• C2PC, in conjunction with the BFT-E system, provides
our commanders in the Balkans with the information
needed to maintain visibility of their Patrols.

• From an Army perspective, C2PC is a good product and
improved interoperability with Army Battle Command
Systems (ABCS) would make it a great product.

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Questions/Comme

nts?

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